Political Crossfire Forums

antonio62 · Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 4:37 pm Post subject: British Protesters to Sedate?

Are our protests to sedate? If we want change do we need to riot like the French are? It seems when we have a protest like the antiwar ones it is very peaceful and the government doesn't care. Where as when we rioted against the Poll tax they abolished it soon after.

Pebble · Joined: 12 Nov 2005 Posts: 1143

antonio62 wrote: Are our protests to sedate? If we want change do we need to riot like the French are? It seems when we have a protest like the antiwar ones it is very peaceful and the government doesn't care. Where as when we rioted against the Poll tax they abolished it soon after.

I don't think the issue is too sedate, me too small...too few. The French are far more politicised than us, the people in the streets right now are young people of 16-21 mostly, demonstrating for what they belive in. The protets were organised orginally by their version of the NUS, can you imagine something of that magnitude happening in this country?

To sum up, we need more people, not more neccesarily violence.

bob.appleyard · Joined: 15 Oct 2005 Posts: 7404 Location: Manchestar, innit

Strangely, the news still manages to find 30 seconds of violence to show at 6 o'clock. That is, if it's covered at all.

Kenna · Joined: 14 Mar 2005 Posts: 189 Location: Manchester

antonio62 wrote: Are our protests to sedate? If we want change do we need to riot like the French are? It seems when we have a protest like the antiwar ones it is very peaceful and the government doesn't care. Where as when we rioted against the Poll tax they abolished it soon after.

Waaaaaaaaaaaay too sedated. Protests have been castrated. They have been turned into PR events for those with a minority opinion, " although we should feel lucky that we live in a country that allows freedom of speech, and the right to protest, in a peacefull and law abiding fashion " :roll: Routes have to be co-ordinated with "law enforcement agencies". To avoid sensitive areas, you know, to preserve National Security. Police forces have been armed with new gadgets, weapons and technology under the guise of the anti-terror requirements. And new laws passed to be exercised if an unruly, unwashed crowd get a bit too loud. Like the one where you cant congregate in numbers of more than 2 people. Anti terror initiatives used against the anti-arms trade and anti-war demos, how ironic!
An almost non-event covered less and less each time by the news media. Downplaying the numbers of attendees. And is it me, or does it seem that when a reporter grabs one protester for a soundbite, they never seem to pick the more articulate ones. Staged managed affairs.
And nowadays, if there is any trouble, it is usually committed by that small band of "Anarchists" that seem to be on the "protest circuit". When they used that line for the Poll Tax riots, it was plainly obvious that those people being described as Anarchist were not. Hardly a black shirt in site. It was "normal upright citizens" rubbing shoulders with the types of persons they usually look down their noses at. Even the Sun readers could empathise with the people in the photos on the front page. When "normal" people are pushed to breaking point, usually helped by an over-enthusiastic police line, change is usually made. Which is probably why such efforts have been made to dumb down the majority, and turn them into robotic, terrorist fearing, wage slaving, consumeristic, soap opera watchers. Oh the digital age, more crap-more of the time-on more channels, just for you. Less news.
No wonder then that politicians prefer us to "peacefully" protest.